The numbers themselves tell a story of uncertainty. Government estimates put the national honey bee population somewhere between 0.7 and 1.5 million colonies of the introduced Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, a range so wide that planning becomes guesswork. Annual honey production figures swing from a literature-based estimate of 12,000 to 15,000 metric tons to a recent report claiming 25,000 to 30,000 tons. Export earnings are similarly blurry, cited anywhere from roughly US$15 million to US$23 million per year. The authors attribute these discrepancies to the absence of any mandatory beekeeper registration system; official statistics rest on voluntary reporting and extrapolation from small regional samples, meaning that subsidy allocations, export targets, and research investments all lack empirical grounding.

What is certain is the sector’s importance to an agriculture-dependent economy. Farming contributes roughly 19 percent of Pakistan’s GDP and employs about 45 percent of its labor force, and pollination-dependent crops—mango, citrus, apple, cotton, sunflower, canola, and forage legumes like berseem clover—form the backbone of both domestic food security and export revenue. Beekeeping itself supports an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 farm families, offering a rare low-capital enterprise suited to smallholders and landless laborers, with notable participation by rural women and youth. Migratory beekeeping, in which commercial operators truck colonies across hundreds of kilometers to chase sequential blooms, also generates seasonal employment and sustains ancillary industries in hive manufacture, honey processing, and marketing.

The migratory circuits are among the most striking features documented in the review. A typical season begins with mustard in southern Punjab and Sindh in late November, moves to citrus and mustard in central Punjab, then to vasaka and garanda in the Pothohar region and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in early spring, followed by acacia flows across Punjab and Azad Kashmir in April and May. Afterward, many beekeepers shift to wild flora in the northern hills, return to Ziziphus—source of the prized Sidr honey exported to the Middle East—and some detour through the Thal Desert before wintering. This choreography is economically rational, but it concentrates colonies from distant regions at shared nectar flows, creating what the authors describe as a plausible biosecurity risk that accelerates the dissemination of pests and pathogens and could undermine regional containment efforts.

Beneath the commercial industry lies a quieter genetic story. Pakistan is home to the native Asian honey bee, Apis cerana indica, managed for generations in log hives, earthenware pots, wall cavities, and basket hives across the northern mountains. A. cerana carries a long coevolutionary history with the parasitic mite Varroa destructor and displays effective grooming and hygienic behavior that confer relative tolerance, though its honey yields of roughly 6 to 16 kilograms per colony are far below the 15 to 40 kilograms typical of well-managed A. mellifera. The modern industry was born in the late 1970s, when packaged colonies imported from Australia were acclimatized at the National Agricultural Research Centre in Islamabad, following an ill-fated first introduction attempt in 1908. Decades of subsequent, poorly regulated imports from Italy and elsewhere have, the review suggests, eroded the genetic identity of the originally introduced subspecies, leaving behind an admixed hybrid population whose local adaptations—four decades in the making—risk being lost to continued uncontrolled gene flow.

The disease burden is formidable. Varroa destructor is recorded as the dominant ectoparasite of A. mellifera across Pakistan, peaking in winter and early spring, and functioning as a competent vector of deformed wing virus, acute bee paralysis virus, and Israeli acute paralysis virus. The brood parasite Tropilaelaps, with two reported species and a life cycle even faster than Varroa’s, caused heavy colony losses in 1992 and infestation peaks each April. The tracheal mite Acarapis woodi, introduced to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 1981 through colonies imported from Afghanistan, is described by local beekeepers as the single most destructive pest of the native A. cerana. Nosema infects roughly a quarter of the country’s colonies; chalkbrood and both American and European foulbrood are documented in major agricultural regions; and the greater wax moth peaks in the humid months of July and August. Molecular work remains scarce, but recent metagenomic sequencing has revealed an extensive viral community in Pakistani honey bees, and RT-PCR surveys have confirmed DWV, IAPV, and black queen cell virus in commercial colonies.

Treatment practices reflect this diagnostic vacuum. Beekeepers lean heavily on chemical control—fluvalinate strips against Varroa, antibiotics such as fumagillin for Nosema and tetracyclines for foulbrood, paradichlorobenzene for wax moths—often without monitoring parasite pressure first. Yet the scientific literature offers promising alternatives: Pakistani studies have shown formic acid to be the most effective tested treatment against both Varroa and Tropilaelaps, and plant-derived extracts including tobacco and clove oil show strong acaricidal activity with low toxicity to bees. The authors warn, however, that repeated and inappropriate acaricide application selects for resistance—a phenomenon already documented with amitraz in the United States—while chemical residues accumulate in hive products. Sustainable control, they argue, will require integrated pest management combining threshold-based treatment decisions, brood interruption, hygienic queen selection, and molecular diagnostics.

Climate change compounds every other pressure. Pakistan ranks among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, and since 2022 the review reports a 15 percent decline in national honey production attributed to extreme smog and climate-induced drought. Summer temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius push colonies toward their physiological limits in semi-arid zones, while phenological shifts in the flowering of Ziziphus, acacia, and citrus disrupt the entire migratory calendar. In Balochistan—a high-potential region where apple, almond, apricot, and cherry orchards depend on insect pollination but rely on migratory colonies trucked in from Punjab and KPK—mismatches between migration schedules and bloom timing already produce suboptimal pollination. Adaptive traits for heat and drought tolerance in both bee species remain entirely uncharacterized.

The research infrastructure mirrors these weaknesses. No Pakistani university offers a dedicated degree in apicultural science, and most studies to date have been localized, descriptive surveys of mite control lacking molecular confirmation. Only a handful of genetic analyses exist, using limited markers such as COI and ND5, and no national genetic baseline exists for either species. The Honey Bee Research Institute at NARC and the historic Tarnab farm in Peshawar provide training and technical guidance, while associations like the All Pakistan Beekeepers Exporters and Honey Trader Association link producers to Gulf markets, but governance remains fragmented, with duplicated efforts and gaps in disease monitoring. Compounding the industrial frustration, the domestic cosmetics sector—valued at roughly US$2 billion—imports refined beeswax despite an estimated 400 tons of domestic production, most of which is sold crude or processed into low-margin foundation sheets. No certified organic honey facility operates in the country, and standardized quality-testing laboratories for the premium European and North American markets are absent.

The review’s prescription is ambitious but concrete: a coordinated national strategy combining genomic baselines for both native and introduced populations, routine molecular pathogen surveillance, regulated queen imports, a centralized digital registration platform the authors dub a potential “Pakistan Honeybee Portal,” and sustained collaboration among government agencies, universities, and beekeepers. With pollination services globally estimated to underpin three-quarters of leading food crops, and with economic valuations elsewhere suggesting pollinator-dependent crop values in the tens of billions of dollars, the stakes extend well beyond honey jars. For a country whose food security rides on bee-pollinated orchards and fields, the authors conclude, treating bees as data-rich, genetically managed livestock rather than an informal afterthought may determine whether Pakistan’s apicultural promise is finally realized.

Subject of Research: The status, challenges, and research needs of beekeeping in Pakistan, including honey bee genetics, disease dynamics, and pollination services

Article Title: Status of beekeeping in Pakistan: apicultural significance, industry challenges, and opportunities for integrated genetic and disease research programs

Article References: Status of beekeeping in Pakistan: apicultural significance, industry challenges, and opportunities for integrated genetic and disease research programs. (n.d.). https://doi.org/10.3389/frbee.2026.1926378

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/frbee.2026.1926378

Keywords: beekeeping, Pakistan, Apis mellifera, Apis cerana, Varroa destructor, Tropilaelaps, pollination services, honey production, population genetics, disease surveillance, climate change, migratory beekeeping